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IMAZ Race Report - Henry Sacco

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This was my third IM and second for 2011. I completed IMLP in July with a 35” PR over the previous year, but experienced GI issues that affected my run and overall time.

Woke up at 3:30am, downed an Ensure, bagel w/jelly and banana. It was approximately 750 calories and I planned for 1000, but have trouble eating that early. I may try the 2:00am wake up in the future to see how that works for me.

Arrived at transition around 6:15 and had no trouble preparing for the race. Setup bike, used the facilities, suited up and headed down to the swim start. I saw a friend of mine that had planned to do the race but became ill – who offered me his neoprene cap for the swim. Given that I am follically challenged, I gladly accepted.

I am not a strong swimmer and planned to line up slightly to the right towards the rear of the pack. (Thanks Al T.) I waited 30 seconds after the gun and was off. The majority of the swim was pretty uneventful with some minor bumps, but nothing like IMLP. Advice from Al T. was spot on.

Swim Time 1:29:03 (Plan 1:25:00)

I got out of the water feeling great. Must have ran past 5 people on the way to the tent. Swam with my tri top and had to put on socks, HR strap, shoes, helmet and arm warmers.  

T1 7:41

I started out on the bike feeling great. I must have made it maybe 3 miles before I got my first flat. I quickly jumped off the bike and maybe took 3 minutes to fix it. I thought to myself if this is the worst that can happen to me today, I’m in fine shape. I started out again and made it maybe another mile before I got my second flat. Thought to myself, ok…something’s goings on here. I spent a few minutes inspecting the tire and rim to see if I could find the problem, but couldn’t. The air was leaking from right around the stem. That much I could tell. Second flat maybe took 5 minutes. Started riding again, passing quite a few folks that were nice enough to ask If I needed help. Maybe made it another mile before I got my third and last flat for the day. I initially became very discouraged at this one as I was out of tubes. I ended up waiting for help with one of the pros who had a flat in a tubular. I could tell this guy was pissed. He barely said a word to me. Help finally arrived, I picked up two tubes some CO2, fixed the flat and was on my way.

The remainder of the bike was fine, though my IF/NP was low the entire ride. My speed, HR and PE were all within limits. Followed nutrition and hydration plan perfectly with NO GI issues.

Bike Time 6:36:04 (Plan 6:03:14) (Ride time without stops was 6:03:47)

Overall Plan was for a NP of 152/IF .69

Split 1 2:26:59, NP 145, IF .65, VI 1.04

Split 2 2:04:19, NP 141, IF .64, VI 1.04

Split 3 2:04:46, NP 127, IF .58, VI 1.04

NP on the third lap is very low, yet I can’t recall why. It may have been an elevated HR which I wanted to keep in check.

I finished off the bike feeling very good. Rode into transition and only had to put on my sneakers. Everything else was in a plastic bag that I took with me. Needed to stop to pee and found a line. Lost of bit of time in transition because of this, but it was fairly minor.

T2 4:05

Started out run at EP plus 30 and kept finding myself speeding up. Tried very had to hold back as much as I could, but see in hindsight that I could have done a better job here. Run was fairly uneventful, though my pace slowed throughout. I felt “good” the entire time, walked only at aid stations, fueled well and ended up picking up the pace quite a bit the last 2 miles.

Run Time 4:37:46 (Plan 4:22)

Overall Time 12:54:39

Although I had mechanical issues, I felt I executed much better than I had earlier in the year.

Lessons learned

  1. Never figured out what was going on with rear tire. It was a rental (Needed PowerTap on an 808) and only had an hour of riding on it before the race. Plan to ride with my own “tested” wheels in any important race going forward.
  2. Continue to work on swim. Need a lot of focus on technique this winter.
  3. Get better at holding back on run up front.

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